Chapter 9. Presentation

Definition of representation and its main characteristics. Representation as a mental process of reflecting objects or phenomena that are not perceived at the moment. Types of representations: representations of memory, representations of imagination. Mechanisms of the emergence of ideas. The main characteristics of representations: clarity, fragmentation, instability, impermanence. Representations as a result of image generalization. General and specific views.

Types of performances. Classification of representations by modality: visual, auditory, motor, tactile, olfactory, etc.
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Classification of representations by content and degree of generalization. Characteristics of certain types of representations.

Individual characteristics of performance and its development. Individual characteristics of presentation: visual type, auditory type. motor type. Stages of formation of ideas in people. Conditions for the development of ideas.

Primary memory images and non-verifying images. General concept of primary memory images. General concept of reconciling images. Similarities and differences between memory images and persistent images.

9.1. Definition of a view and its main characteristics

We receive primary information about the world around us through sensation and perception. The excitement that arises in our sense organs does not disappear without a trace at the very moment when the effect of stimuli on them ceases. After this, so-called sequential images appear and persist for some time. Moreover, the role of these images for a person’s mental life is relatively small. Much more important is the fact that, even long after we have perceived an object, the image of this object must again be evoked by us - accidentally or intentionally. This phenomenon is called “representation”.

Τᴀᴋᴎᴍ ᴏϬᴩᴀᴈᴏᴍ, performance - This the mental process of reflecting objects or phenomena that are not currently perceived, but are recreated on the basis of our previous experience.

The root of representation is the perception of objects that took place in the past. Several types of representations can be distinguished. First of all, this memory representations, i.e. ideas that arose on the basis of our direct perception in the past of any object or phenomenon. Secondly, this imagination. At first glance, this type of representation does not correspond to the definition of the concept of “representation”, because in the imagination we display something that we have never seen, but this is only at first glance. Imagination is not born out of nowhere, and if we, for example, have never been

in the tundra, this does not mean that we have no idea about it. We have seen the tundra in photographs, in films, and also read its description in a geography or natural history textbook, and on the basis of this material we can imagine an image of the tundra. Consequently, imagination representations are formed on the basis of information received in past perceptions and its more or less creative processing. The richer the past experience, the brighter and more complete the corresponding idea should be.

Ideas do not arise on their own, but as a result of our practical activity. Moreover, ideas are of great importance not only for the processes of memory or imagination, but they are extremely important for all mental processes that ensure human cognitive activity. The processes of perception, thinking, and writing are always associated with ideas, as well as memory, which stores information and thanks to which ideas are formed.

Representations have their own characteristics. First of all, representations are characterized visibility. Representations are sensory-visual images of reality, and this is their closeness to images of perception. But perceptual images are a reflection of those objects of the material world that are perceived at the moment, while representations are reproduced and processed images of objects that were perceived in the past. For this reason, representations never have the degree of clarity that is inherent in images of perception - they, as a rule, are much paler.

The next characteristic of representations is fragmentation. The representations are full of gaps, some parts and features are presented vividly, others are very vague, and still others are completely absent. For example, when we imagine someone's face, we clearly and distinctly reproduce only individual features. which, as a rule, we focused our attention on. The remaining details only appear slightly against the background of a vague and indefinite image.

An equally significant characteristic of representations is their instability And impermanence. Thus, any evoked image, be it an object or someone’s image, will disappear from the field of your consciousness, no matter how hard you try to hold it. And you will have to make another effort to evoke it again. At the same time, ideas are very fluid and changeable. First one and then another detail of the reproduced image comes to the foreground. Only in people who have a highly developed ability to form ideas of a certain type (for example, musicians have the ability to form auditory ideas, artists have visual ideas), these ideas are quite stable and constant.

It should be noted that ideas are not just visual images of reality, but are always, to a certain extent, generalized images. This is their proximity to concepts. Generalization occurs not only in those representations that relate to a whole group of similar objects (the idea of ​​a chair in general, the idea of ​​a cat in general, etc.), but also in the representations of specific objects. We see every object familiar to us more than once, and each time we form some new image of this object, but when we evoke in our minds an idea of ​​this object, the image that arises is always generalized

character.
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For example, imagine your dining table or the cup you usually use. You have seen these objects more than once and from different sides, but when you were asked to imagine them, they appeared in your mind not in the plural, but in some generalized image. This generalized image is characterized primarily by the fact that it emphasizes and presents with the greatest clarity the constant features of a given object, and on the other hand, the features characteristic of individual, private memories are absent or presented very faintly.

Our ideas are always the result of a generalization of individual images of perception. The degree of generalization contained in the representation must vary. Representations characterized by a high degree of generalization are called general representations.

It is also necessary to emphasize the following very important feature of representations. On the one hand, representations are visual, and in this respect they are similar to sensory and perceptual images. On the other hand, general ideas contain a significant degree of generalization, and in this respect they are similar to concepts. However, representations are a transition from sensory and perceptual images to concepts.

Representation, like any other cognitive process, performs a number of functions in the mental regulation of human behavior. Most researchers identify three main functions: signaling, regulating and tuning.

The essence of the signal function of representations is to reflect in each specific case not only the image of an object that previously influenced our senses, but also diverse information about this object, which, under the influence of specific influences, is transformed into a system of signals that control behavior.

I.P. Pavlov believed that ideas are the first signals of reality, on the basis of which a person carries out his conscious activities. He showed that ideas are very often formed according to the mechanism of a conditioned reflex. Thanks to this, any ideas signal specific phenomena of reality. When in the course of your life and activity you come across some object or some phenomenon, you form ideas not only about what it looks like, but also about the properties of this phenomenon or object. It is this knowledge that subsequently acts as a primary orientation signal for a person. For example, when you see an orange, you imagine it as an edible and quite juicy object. Therefore, orange is able to satisfy hunger or thirst.

The regulatory function of ideas is closely related to their signaling function and consists in the selection of the necessary information about an object or phenomenon that previously influenced our senses. Moreover, this choice is not made abstractly, but taking into account the real conditions of the upcoming activity. Thanks to the regulatory function, exactly those aspects, for example, of motor representations are updated, on the basis of which the task is solved with the greatest success.

Is it possible to study

Representation occupies a special place among mental cognitive processes. L.M. Wekker proposes to consider representations as secondary images.

“Representations are an extremely important intermediate link that connects primary-signal mental processes, organized in the form of images of various types, and secondary-signal mental, or speech-mental mental processes, which already constitute a “specially human” level of mental information.

Already the consideration of such an important property of primary images as generality, which not by chance completes the list of empirical characteristics of perception and is a “cross-cutting” parameter of all mental processes, has led to the question of the extremely important relationship between perception and memory. Since the generality of the image expresses the attribution of the object displayed in it to a certain class, and the class should not be the content of the actual, i.e., currently occurring reflection, the obligatory mediating link here is the inclusion of apperception, i.e., images formed in the past experience and embodied in those standards extracted from memory with which each actual percept is compared.

Such standards are secondary images, or representations that accumulate the characteristics of various individual images. On the basis of these characteristics, a “portrait of a class of objects” is constructed and thereby ensures the possibility of transition from a perceptual-figurative to a conceptual-logical representation of the structure of a class of objects that are homogeneous in any set of their characteristics.

representation

However, representation can be considered as a link between perception and memory; it connects perception with thinking. It should be noted that very little research is currently being conducted on this important mental process. Why?

ʼʼThe study of secondary images faces significant difficulties both at the starting point of analysis - when describing their main empirical characteristics, and at the stage of the theoretical search for patterns that determine the organization of this category of “first signals”. These methodological difficulties are caused primarily by the absence of a present, directly acting stimulus object, with which the actual content of the representation must be directly correlated. In addition, due to the lack of direct influence of the represented object, the representation itself is a “volatile” structure that is difficult to fix.

In this regard, the experimental psychological study of secondary images, despite its theoretical and applied relevance, lags disproportionately behind the study of primary, sensory-perceptual images. There is very little “established” empirical material here, and the available data is extremely fragmentary and scattered.

Consequently, we can conclude that the study of representations is an urgent and at the same time completely unsolved problem. For example, a very significant problem is the study of the processes of forming ideas about oneself.

According to: Wekker L.M. Mental processes: In 3 volumes. T.1.- L.: Leningrad State University Publishing House, 1974.

The next function of views is customization. It manifests itself in the orientation of human activity based on the nature of environmental influences. Thus, while studying the physiological mechanisms of voluntary movements, I.P. Pavlov showed that the emerging motor image ensures the adjustment of the motor apparatus to perform the appropriate movements. The tuning function of representations provides a certain training effect of motor representations, which contributes to the formation of an algorithm of our activity.

However, ideas play a very significant role in the mental regulation of human activity.

9.2. Types of representations

Today, there are several approaches to constructing a classification of representations (Fig. 9.1). Since the basis of ideas is past perceptual experience, the main classification of ideas is based on the classification of types of sensation and perception. For this reason, it is customary to distinguish the following types of representations: visual, auditory, motor (kinesthetic), tactile, olfactory, gustatory, temperature and organic.

It should be noted that this approach to classifying representations cannot be considered as the only one. Thus, B. M. Teplov said that the classification of representations can be carried out according to the following criteria: 1) according to their

In this chapter, we will first consider the classification of ideas, which are based on sensations.

Visual performances. Most of the ideas we have are related to visual perception. A characteristic feature of visual representations is that in some cases they are extremely specific and convey all the visible qualities of objects: color, shape, volume. However, more often than not, one side predominates in visual representations, while the others are either very unclear or absent altogether. For example, often our visual images lack three-dimensionality and are reproduced in the form of a picture, rather than a three-dimensional object. Moreover, these paintings in one case are colorful, and in other cases colorless.

What determines the character, or “quality,” of our ideas? The nature of our visual representations mainly depends on the content and the practical activity in the process of which they arise. Thus, visual representations play a central role in the visual arts, because not only drawing from memory, but also drawing from life is impossible without well-developed visual representations. Visual representations also play an important role in the pedagogical process. Even the study of such a subject as literature requires, in order to successfully master the material, the “inclusion” of the imagination, which, in turn, relies heavily on visual representations.

In the field of auditory representations, speech and musical representations are of utmost importance. In turn, speech representations can also be divided into several subtypes: phonetic representations and timbre-intonation speech representations. Phonetic representations occur when we imagine a word aurally without associating it with a specific voice. This kind of representation is quite important when learning foreign languages.

Timbre-intonation speech ideas take place when we imagine the timbre of the voice and the characteristic features of the intonation of a person. This kind of performance is of great importance in the work of an actor and in school practice when teaching a child expressive reading.

The essence of musical ideas consists mainly in the idea of ​​the relationship between sounds in pitch and duration, since a musical melody is determined precisely by pitch and rhythmic relationships. For most people, there is no timbre element in musical representations, because a familiar motive, as a rule, is not represented as played on any instrument or sung by any voice, but as if it sounds “in general”, in some kind of “abstract sounds”. At the same time, among highly qualified professional musicians, timbre coloring can manifest itself in musical performances with complete clarity.

Teplov Boris Mikhailovich (1896-1965) - famous domestic psychologist. In the early period of creativity, he conducted a series of studies in the field of perception and representation, as well as thinking. Subsequently, he conducted research on individual differences. B. M. Teplov was the founder of the scientific school of differential psychology. Developed the concept of abilities. Based on the teachings of I.P. Pavlov on the types of higher nervous activity, he developed a research program to study the physiological foundations of individual psychological differences in humans, as a result of which he proposed the theory of individual differences. In his research he paid considerable attention to the study of problems in the psychology of art.

Another class of representations is motor representations. By the nature of their occurrence, they differ from visual and auditory ones, since they are never a simple reproduction of past sensations, but are always associated with current sensations. Every time we imagine the movement of any part of our body, a weak contraction of the corresponding muscles occurs. For example, if you imagine that you are bending your right arm at the elbow, then contractions will occur in the biceps of your right arm, which can be recorded by sensitive electrophysiological devices. If we exclude the possibility of this reduction, then representations become impossible. It has been experimentally proven that whenever we motorically imagine pronouncing a word, instruments record a contraction in the muscles of the tongue, lips, larynx, etc. Consequently, without motor ideas we would hardly be able to use speech and communicate with each other it would be impossible.

However, with any motor representation, rudimentary movements are performed that give us corresponding motor sensations. But the sensations received from these rudimentary movements always form an inextricable whole with certain visual or auditory images. In this case, motor ideas can be divided into two groups: ideas about the movement of the whole body or its individual parts and speech motor ideas. The former are usually the result of the fusion of motor sensations with visual images (for example, imagining the bending of the right arm at the elbow, we, as a rule, have a visual image of a bent arm and motor sensations coming from the muscles of this arm). Speech motor representations are the fusion of speech-motor sensations with auditory images of words. Consequently, motor representations are either visual-motor (representations of body movement) or auditory-motor (speech representations).

It should be noted that auditory representations are also very rarely purely auditory. In most cases, they are associated with motor sensations of the rudimentary movements of the speech apparatus. Consequently,

auditory and motor speech representations are qualitatively similar processes: both are the result of the fusion of auditory images and motor sensations. Moreover, in this case, we can rightfully say that motor ideas are equally associated with both auditory images and motor sensations. Thus, when imagining an object, we accompany the visual reproduction with the mental utterance of a word denoting this object; therefore, together with the visual image, we reproduce an auditory image, which, in turn, is associated with motor sensations. It is quite legitimate to ask whether it is possible to reproduce visual ideas without accompanying them with auditory images. Probably possible, but in this case the visual image will be very vague and indefinite. A relatively clear visual representation is possible only when reproduced together with an auditory image.

However, all the main types of our ideas are to some extent related to each other, and the division into classes or types is very arbitrary. We talk about a certain class (type) of representations in the case when visual, auditory or motor representations come to the fore.

Concluding our consideration of the classification of representations, it is extremely important for us to dwell on one more, very important, type of representation - spatial representations. The term “spatial representations” is applied to those cases where the spatial form and placement of objects are clearly represented, but the objects themselves may be very vague in their representation. As a rule, these representations are so schematic and colorless that at first glance the term “visual image” is not applicable to them. At the same time, they still remain images - images of space, since they convey one side of reality - the spatial arrangement of things - with complete clarity.

Spatial representations are mainly visuomotor representations, and sometimes the visual component comes to the fore, sometimes the motor component. Chess players playing blindly operate very actively with ideas of this type. In everyday life, we also use this type of ideas, for example, when it is extremely important to get from one point of a populated area to another. In this case, we imagine a route and move along it. Moreover, the image of the route is constantly in our minds. As soon as we are distracted, that is, this idea leaves our consciousness, we can make a mistake in movement, for example, we miss our stop. For this reason, when moving along a particular route, spatial representations are as important as the information contained in our memory.

Spatial representations are also very important in mastering a number of scientific disciplines. Thus, in order to successfully master educational material in physics, geometry, and geography, a student must be able to operate with spatial concepts. In this case, it is necessary to distinguish between flat and three-dimensional (stereometric) spatial representations. Many people are quite good at working with flat spatial concepts, but are not able to handle three-dimensional concepts as easily.

At the same time, all ideas differ in the degree of generalization. Representations are usually divided into individual and general. It should be noted that one of the basic differences between ideas and images of perception is essentially that images of perception are always only single, that is, they contain information only about a specific object, and ideas are very often generalized.
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Unit representations are representations based on the observation of a single object. General representations are representations that generally reflect the properties of a number of similar objects.

It should also be noted that all ideas differ in the degree of manifestation of volitional efforts. In this case, it is customary to distinguish between voluntary and involuntary representations. Involuntary ideas are ideas that arise spontaneously, without activating the will and memory of a person. Voluntary ideas are ideas that arise in a person as a result of volitional effort, in the interests of a set goal.

9.3. Individual characteristics of performance and its development

All people differ from each other in the role that representations of one kind or another play in their lives. For some, visual representations predominate, for others, auditory representations predominate, and for others, motor representations predominate. The existence of differences between people in the quality of ideas is reflected in the doctrine of “types of ideas”. In accordance with this theory, all people are divided based on the predominant type of ideas into four groups: persons with a predominance of visual, auditory and motor ideas, as well as persons with mixed types of ideas. The last group includes people who use representations of any kind to approximately the same extent.

A person with a predominance of visual type ideas, remembering a text, imagines the page of the book where this text is printed, as if reading it mentally. If he needs to remember some numbers, for example a phone number, he imagines it written or printed.

A person with a predominance of auditory type ideas, remembering a text, seems to hear spoken words. They also remember numbers in the form of an auditory image.

A person with a predominance of motor-type ideas, remembering a text or trying to remember some numbers, pronounces them to himself.

It should be noted that people with pronounced types of ideas are extremely rare. Most people, to some extent, have ideas of all these types, and it can be quite difficult to determine which of them play a leading role in a given person. Moreover, individual differences in this case are expressed not only in the predominance of ideas of a certain type, but also in the characteristics of ideas. So, some people have pre-

The performances of all types have great brightness, liveliness and completeness, while in others they are more or less pale and schematic. People who have a predominance of vivid and vivid ideas are usually classified as the so-called imaginative type. Such people are characterized not only by the great clarity of their ideas, but also by the fact that ideas play an extremely important role in their mental life. For example, when remembering any events, they mentally “see” pictures of individual episodes related to these events; when thinking or talking about something, they widely use visual images, etc. Thus, the talent of the famous Russian composer Rimsky-Korsakov was that his musical, i.e. auditory, imagination was combined with an unusual wealth of visual images. While composing music, he mentally saw pictures of nature with all the richness of colors and all the subtlest shades of light. For this reason, his works are distinguished by their extraordinary musical expressiveness and “picturesqueness”.

As we have already noted, all people have the ability to use any kind of representation. Moreover, a person must be able to use representations of any type, since the performance of a certain task, for example, mastering educational material, may require him to predominantly use representations of a certain type. For this reason, it is advisable to develop ideas.

Today there is no data that allows us to unambiguously indicate the time when children’s first ideas appeared. It is quite possible that already in the first year of life, ideas, while still closely connected with perception, begin to play a significant role in the mental life of the child. At the same time, a number of studies have shown that the first memories of life events in children relate to the age of one and a half years. For this reason, we can talk about the emergence of “free ideas” in children precisely at this time, and by the end of the second year of life, visual ideas already play a significant role in the child’s life.

Speech (auditory-motor) concepts also reach a relatively high development in the second year of life, since without this the process of mastering speech and the rapid growth of the child’s vocabulary observed at this age would be impossible. The appearance of the first musical auditory ideas, expressed in memorizing melodies and singing them independently, dates back to this period.

Ideas play an extremely important role in the mental life of a preschool child. Most of the studies have shown that preschoolers, as a rule, think visually and in images. Memory at this age is also largely built on the reproduction of ideas; therefore, the first memories for most people are of the nature of pictures and visual images. At the same time, the first ideas of children are quite pale. Despite the fact that ideas are more significant for a child than for an adult, they are more vivid in an adult. This suggests that in the process of human ontogenesis the development of ideas occurs.

Psychological experiments show that the vividness and accuracy of ideas increase under the influence of exercise. For example, if an experiment requires comparing two sounds separated from each other by an interval of 20-30 seconds,

then at first this task turns out to be almost impossible, since by the time the second sound appears, the image of the first has already disappeared or becomes so dim and unclear that it does not allow for exact comparison. But then, gradually, as a result of exercises, the images become brighter, more accurate, and the task turns out to be quite feasible. This experiment proves that our ideas develop in the process of activity, and that activity that requires the participation of ideas of a certain quality.

The most important condition for the development of ideas is the presence of sufficiently rich perceptual material. The essence of this statement is that our ideas largely depend on the usual way of perception, and this is extremely important to take into account when solving specific problems. For example, most people often represent words of a foreign language visually, and words of their native language - auditory-motor. This is explained by the fact that we constantly hear our native language and learn to speak in the process of communicating with people, and, as a rule, we study a foreign language from books. As a result, representations of foreign words are formed in the form of visual images. For the same reason, our ideas about numbers are reproduced in the form of visual images.

The fact that ideas are formed only on the basis of perceptual images is extremely important to take into account in the learning process. It is inappropriate to set premature tasks that require free manipulation of ideas without support in perception. In order to achieve such manipulation of representations, it is extremely important for the student to form representations of a certain type on the basis of appropriate perceptual images and to have practice in operating with these representations. For example, if you ask students to mentally imagine the location of the cities of Moscow and Tver on a map, they are unlikely to be able to do this if they do not know the map well.

The most important stage in the development of ideas is the transition from their involuntary emergence to the ability to voluntarily evoke the necessary ideas. Many studies have shown that there are people who are completely incapable of voluntarily conjuring up ideas. For this reason, the main efforts in developing the ability to operate with representations of a certain type should first of all be aimed at developing the ability to voluntarily evoke these representations. It should be borne in mind that every representation contains an element of generalization, and the development of representations follows the path of increasing the element of generalization in them.

Increasing the generalizing value of ideas can go in two directions. One way is the way of schematization. As a result of schematization, the representation gradually loses a number of private individual characteristics and details, approaching the scheme. For example, the development of spatial geometric concepts follows this path. Another way is the way of developing typical images. In this case, ideas, without losing their individuality, on the contrary, become more and more specific and visual and reflect a whole group of objects and phenomena. This path leads to the creation of artistic images, which, being as concrete and individual as possible, can contain very broad generalizations.

9.4. Primary memory images and perseverative images

We have become acquainted with such a mental process as representation. At the same time, attention should be paid to the fact that it is extremely important to distinguish ideas from primary memory images and persevering images.

Primary memory images are those that directly follow the perception of an object and are retained for a very short period of time, measured in seconds. Let's do one experiment. For one or two seconds, look at some object - a fountain pen, a table lamp, a picture, etc. Next, close your eyes and try to imagine this object as clearly as possible. You will immediately receive a relatively bright and lively image, which will begin to fade quite quickly and will soon disappear completely. Primary memory images have certain similar characteristics to sequential images: 1) they immediately follow the perception of an object; 2) their duration is very short; 3) their brightness, liveliness and clarity are much greater than those of visual representations; 4) they are copies of a single perception and do not contain any generalization.

On the other hand, they have features that distinguish them from consistent images, which bring them closer to genuine ideas. This should include the following features: 1) primary memory images depend on the focus of attention on the corresponding object during perception - the more attentively the object is perceived, the brighter the primary memory image will be, while the sequential image:? does not depend on the direction of attention during perception; 2) in order to obtain a vivid sequential image, you need to look at the corresponding object for a relatively long time (15-20 s), while the most vivid primary memory images are obtained after a short (one to two seconds) perception time.

Persevering Images are those involuntary images that emerge with exceptional vividness in consciousness after a prolonged perception of homogeneous objects or after such a perception of an object has had a strong emotional impact. For example, everyone who has picked mushrooms or walked for a long time in the forest knows that when you go to bed and close your eyes, quite bright pictures of the forest, images of leaves and grass pop up in your mind.

The same phenomenon is characteristic of auditory images. For example, after you hear some melody, it “sounds in your ears” for a long time and intrusively. Most often, this is the melody that caused a strong emotional experience.

It should be noted that perseverative images are similar to sequential images in their concreteness and clarity, as well as complete involuntariness, as if obsession, and the fact that they are almost a simple copy of perception, without carrying a noticeable element of generalization. But they are different from afterbirths

Chapter 9. Representation - concept and types. Classification and features of the category "Chapter 9. Presentation" 2017, 2018.

Thinking as a cognitive process: properties, types, forms, mental operations.

1. A person’s cognition of the reality around him is carried out, first of all, through the senses. Therefore, it is called sensory knowledge, a sensory reflection of reality. The images of objects and phenomena of reality that arise in a person are called sensations and perceptions.

These mental processes have something in common, but there are also significant differences. The commonality is that both of them are primary cognitive processes, arise only with the direct influence of certain stimuli on the sense organs and are a product of the activity of the nervous system, its peripheral and central brain mechanisms. What is also common is that all human activity is based on sensations and perceptions. Through sensations and perceptions, a person not only receives direct information about what is happening around him and in himself, but sensations and perceptions are essential elements of the mechanisms that allow a person to control the actions of other people.

Deprive a person of the ability to sense and perceive the reality around him, and he will not be able to do anything. In special experiments, all of a person’s senses were “turned off,” not a single irritation penetrated his brain, and the person fell asleep. Under conditions of sensory isolation, in less than 24 hours a person experienced a sharp decrease in attention, a decrease in memory capacity, and other changes in mental activity occurred.

All this testifies to the decisive role of sensations and perceptions in the life and activities of people. The main significant difference between sensations and perceptions is associated with their reflective essence. Feeling - this is a mental process of reflecting individual qualities of objects and phenomena during their direct impact on the senses.

There are several classifications of sensations. The most common classification is based on the characteristics of the environment from which the irritations that affect the receptors come. This is the external environment in which a person’s life and diverse activities take place, and the internal environment of his body. Accordingly, irritations from the external environment and the sensations caused by them are called exteroceptive; irritations coming from the internal environment, and the sensations arising from them, interoceptive.

Exteroceptive sensations include visual, auditory, skin (including tactile, temperature, pain), olfactory, and gustatory sensations.

Interoceptive include sensations characterizing the state of internal organs, sensations of heaviness, pain, hunger, etc.; vestibular sensations; motor sensations (feelings of position and movement in space of the entire body and its individual parts). They are also called proprioceptive or kinesthetic.

There are certain regularities in the area of ​​sensations. The central pattern of sensations is the existence of sensitivity thresholds. Thresholds of sensations These are the magnitudes (by intensity) of stimulation at which sensations arise, can persist, and homogeneous sensations differ from each other. There are three such thresholds: lower, or absolute, upper and discrimination threshold.

Thresholds of discrimination is called the smallest value by which the intensity of the current stimulus must be increased or decreased in order for the sensation of its change to arise for the first time. This value for each type of sensation is definite and relatively constant.

Sensation thresholds are closely related to the sensitivity of analyzers. However, the relationship between them is inverse: the lower the absolute threshold, or discrimination threshold, the higher the sensitivity. Sensitivity and thresholds of sensation are not the same for different people.

The next pattern of sensations is adaptation. The phenomenon of adaptation is the adaptation of analyzers to functioning in changing environmental conditions. It consists in increasing or decreasing their sensitivity.

Perception- this is the mental process of a holistic reflection of objects and phenomena of reality in the totality of their various properties and parts. Perception is a process that reflects both the features of the actually existing qualities and relationships of objects in the external world that serve as a source of perception, and the originality of the subjective activity of the individual. Internal attitudes and a certain orientation of the personality constitute the objective nature of perception. This is revealed in the predetermination of perception by the subjective mood of the individual.

Features of perception:

1) objectivity and integrity perception: in perception many sensations are synthesized (united), although it is not their simple sum.

2) structure. It lies in the fact that perception is not just a sum of sensations, it reflects the relationships between various properties and parts of an object, i.e. its structure.

3) constancy perception is characterized by the fact that, within certain limits, a person perceives objects as relatively unchanging.

It is detected, for example, in the visual perception of the shape and color of objects. Thus, a chalkboard is perceived as black and a ceiling as white in bright sunlight, in the dim light of a cloudy morning, and in electric lighting. Of course, the constancy of perception is not always maintained; it can change (for example, under very bright and rapidly changing color lighting).

4) meaningfulness.

Perception is not only a sensory reflection, but also an awareness of objects, their comprehension. This means that thinking is also included in the process of perception. When perceiving an object, a person strives to verbally name it out loud or silently or relate it to some other objects that resemble it. This expresses not only meaningfulness, but also generalization of perception. Its meaningfulness is well enhanced, for example, when perceiving unfinished drawings. Examination of the drawing reveals the unity of the sensory and logical elements of cognition, the inextricable connection between human perception and thinking. Therefore, the surrounding reality in perception is fuller and deeper, although this applies only to the external properties and qualities of objects.

5) a perception- this is the dependence of perception on a person’s life experience, interests, stock of knowledge, value orientations and attitudes. Apperception is associated with purposefulness and selectivity of perception, individual differences in the perception of the same object by different people. For example, when perceiving broken skis, the master who produces them will focus on the material from which they are made, the quality of their manufacture, an artist-designer - on the external design, a novice athlete - on the suitability of the ski for height and weight, an experienced a coach choosing skis for his students will evaluate them comprehensively.

Thus, sensations and perception are mental processes that allow a person to obtain knowledge about the qualities and properties of objects in the surrounding world and create holistic images of these objects.

2. Attention occupies a special position in the system of psychological phenomena. It is included in all other psychological processes, acts as their necessary element, and it is not possible to separate it from them, isolate it and study it in its “pure” form. We deal with the phenomena of attention only when we consider the dynamics of cognitive processes and the characteristics of various mental states of a person. Whenever we try to highlight the “matter” of attention, distracting from the rest of the content of mental phenomena, it seems to disappear.

Attention can be defined as a psychophysiological process, a state that characterizes the dynamic features of cognitive activity. They are expressed in its concentration on a relatively narrow area of ​​external or internal reality, which at a given moment in time becomes conscious and concentrates the mental and physical forces of a person for a certain period of time. Attention - This is the process of conscious or unconscious (semi-conscious) selection of one information coming through the senses and ignoring others.

Attention has no content of its own. It is included in other mental processes: sensations and perceptions, ideas, memory, thinking, imagination, emotions and feelings, manifestations of the will. Attention is also included in practical, in particular, motor actions of people, in their behavioral acts - actions. This ensures clarity and distinctness of the reflection of reality, which is one of the necessary conditions for the success of any activity.

The following types of attention are distinguished: external and internal, voluntary (intentional), involuntary (unintentional) and post-voluntary.

External attention is the focus of consciousness on objects and phenomena of the external environment (natural and social) in which a person exists, and on one’s own external actions and actions.

Internal attention is the focus of consciousness on the phenomena and states of the internal environment of the body.

The ratio of external and internal attention plays an important role in a person’s interaction with the outside world, other people, in his knowledge of himself, in the ability to manage himself.

If external and internal attention is characterized by different orientations of consciousness, then voluntary, involuntary and post-voluntary attention differs according to the relationship with the purpose of activity. At arbitrary In attention, the concentration of consciousness is determined by the purpose of the activity and specific tasks arising from its requirements and changing conditions. Involuntary attention arises without first setting a goal - as a reaction to a strong sound, bright light, or the novelty of an object.

Any unexpected stimulus becomes the subject of involuntary attention. With all surprises, attention is focused for a short period of time. But voluntary attention can be maintained for a long time in cases where the perception of an object, even the thought of it, arouses keen interest, is colored by positive emotions of pleasure, surprise, admiration, etc. Consequently, attention is not only a limiting factor. reducing mental activity, but it itself can be regulated from the outside, in particular, in the pedagogical process.

Post-arbitrary attention arises after voluntary attention. This means that a person first concentrates consciousness on some object or activity, sometimes with the help of considerable volitional efforts, then the process of viewing the object or the activity itself arouses growing interest, and attention continues to be maintained without any effort.

All three types of attention are dynamic processes connected by mutual transitions, but one of them always becomes dominant for some time.

Properties of attention the features of its manifestation are called. These include volume, concentration, stability, switching and distribution of attention.

Volume attention is characterized by the amount of material remembered and produced. The scope of attention can be increased through exercise or by establishing semantic connections between perceived objects (for example, combining letters into words).

Concentration attention is a property expressed by complete absorption in an object, phenomenon, thoughts, experiences, actions on which a person’s consciousness is focused. With such concentration, a person becomes highly resistant to interference. Only with difficulty can he be distracted from the thoughts in which he is immersed.

Sustainability attention - the ability to be focused for a long time on a specific subject or on the same thing. It is measured by the time of concentration, provided that the clarity of the reflection of an object or process of activity in consciousness is maintained. The stability of attention depends on a number of reasons: the significance of the matter, interest in it, preparedness of the workplace, skills.

Switching attention is expressed in its voluntary, conscious movement from one object to another, in a rapid transition from one activity to another. It is dictated by the very course of activity, the emergence or formulation of new tasks.

Switching attention should not be confused with distraction, which is expressed in an involuntary transfer of concentration of consciousness to something else or in a decrease in the intensity of concentration. This manifests itself in short-term fluctuations in attention.

Distribution attention is a property due to which it is possible to perform two or more actions (types of activity) simultaneously, but only in the case when some actions are familiar to a person and are carried out, although under the control of consciousness, but to a large extent automated.

In the process of training and education, activity and communication, a person develops the properties of attention, its types, their relatively stable combinations are formed (individual typological characteristics of attention, also determined by the type of nervous system), on the basis of which the formation of attentiveness as a personality trait.

Thus, attention is a mental category included in all psychological processes, having its own types and properties.

3. By memory is called remembering, preserving and reproducing what a person perceived, thought, experienced or did once, i.e. a reflection of past experience, circumstances of life and activities of the individual. Memory serves as the basis for the continuity of mental activity, connecting the past, present and future. The basic processes of memory are memorization, preservation, reproduction.

Memorization - the process of imprinting incoming information in the consciousness in the form of images, thoughts (concepts), experiences and actions. A distinction is made between involuntary (unintentional) and voluntary (intentional) memorization.

Involuntary memorization is carried out as if by itself, without a deliberate desire to remember something. It is determined not by attitudes or goals, but by the characteristics of objects and a person’s attitude towards them. This is how we usually remember something that made a vivid impression and caused strong and deep emotions. Involuntary memorization can be effective if it is included in active mental activity. For example, in a number of cases, an artist does not specifically memorize the text of a role, but memorizes it during rehearsals, the main goal of which is not to learn the words, but to get used to the character.

The leader for a person is voluntary memorization. It arises and develops in the process of communication between people and work activity. Voluntary memorization is purposeful memorization (what to remember, why, for how long, how to use it, etc.), which gives it systematicity and organization. A special form of voluntary memorization - memorization. It is used when it is necessary to imprint something in memory very accurately and very firmly.

Preservation- retention in memory for a more or less long time and processing of what was imprinted and remembered. Material that is significant, repeated many times, constantly used in activities, well understood or imprinted with the attitude of “remembering for a long time” is retained in memory. The main condition for preservation is the use of what has been remembered in practice, in activity. This applies not only to knowledge, but also to skills and abilities.

Forgetting- not always desirable, but an inevitable process, the opposite of conservation. It almost always occurs involuntarily. Thanks to forgetting, there are no small, unnecessary, insignificant details left in the memory; memorization is generalized. Partially forgotten things can be difficult to reproduce, but easy to recognize. What is quickly forgotten is what is rarely included in a person’s activity, what becomes insignificant for him, and is not systematically reinforced by perception and repetition. This is the positive side of forgetting. Forgetting is especially intense in the first 48 hours after memorization or perception and depends on the content of the material, its awareness and volume.

Playback— selective revival of information stored in memory in connection with human needs, specific circumstances and tasks in activity.

A type of reproduction is recognition, manifested during secondary perception of an object. Usually the feeling of familiarity of the object that arises is accompanied by the thought: “Yes, I saw this somewhere.” Thought identifies what is being reflected at the present moment with what was perceived before.

Reproduction, like memorization, can be voluntary or involuntary.

There are several reasons for distinguishing types of memory:

1) the degree of conscious activity during memorization and reproduction ( involuntary And arbitrary. Arbitrary, in turn, can be mechanical and logical);

2) psychological content of what is remembered ( figurative memory (visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory, tactile), verbal-logical, emotional and motor is highlighted);

3) duration of preservation (long-term, short-term and operational).

There are individual differences between people in the volume, accuracy of memory, speed of memorization, duration of storage, and memory readiness.

Thus, memory is This is a form of reflection of mental reality, consisting in memorizing, preserving, recognizing and reproducing information, which ensures the integrity of a person’s personality and his connection with past experience.

4. Thinking- this is a process of indirect and generalized reflection, establishing existing connections and relationships between objects and phenomena of reality.

Thinking is a cognitive process of a higher level compared to the direct sensory reflection of reality in sensations, perceptions, and ideas. Sensual knowledge gives only an external picture of the world, while thinking leads to knowledge of the laws of nature and social life.

Thinking performs a regulatory, cognitive and communicative function, i.e., a communication function. And here its expression in speech acquires special significance. Whether thoughts are transmitted orally or in writing in the process of communication between people, whether a scientific book or a work of fiction is written - everywhere the thought must be formalized in words so that other people understand it.

Like all mental phenomena, thinking is a product of reflex activity of the brain. The unity of the sensory and logical in thinking is based on the complex interaction of the cortex and subcortical formations of the brain. Thinking is always the solution to some problem, the search for an answer to a question that has arisen, the search for a way out of the current situation. At the same time, no solution, no answer, no way out can be seen only by perceiving reality. Thinking is not only an indirect, but also a generalized reflection of reality. Its generality lies in the fact that for each group of homogeneous objects and phenomena, are common And essential features, characterizing them

Types of thinking.

Visually effective thinking. It is also called practically effective or simply practical thinking. It occurs directly in the process of people’s practical activities and is associated with the solution of practical problems: production problems, organization of the educational process. This type of thinking is, one might say, fundamental throughout a person’s life.

Visual-figurative thinking. This type of thinking is associated with solving mental problems based on figurative material. Here we operate with a wide variety of images, but most of all with visual and auditory images. Visual-imaginative thinking is closely related to practical thinking.

Verbal and logical thinking. It is also called abstract or theoretical. It has the form of abstract concepts and judgments and is associated with the operation of philosophical, mathematical, physical and other concepts and judgments. This is the highest level of thinking, allowing one to penetrate into the essence of phenomena and establish the laws of development of nature and social life.

All types of thinking are closely interconnected. However, for different people one or another species occupies a leading position. Which one is determined by the conditions and requirements of the activity. For example, a theoretical physicist or a philosopher has verbal-logical thinking, while an artist has visual-figurative thinking.

The relationship between types of thinking is also characterized by their mutual transitions. They depend on the tasks of activity, requiring first one, then the other, or even joint manifestation of types of thinking.

Basic forms of thinking- concept, judgment, conclusion.

Concept- this is a thought expressed in a word about the general and essential features of objects and phenomena of reality. In this way it differs from ideas that only show their images. Concepts are formed in the process of historical development of mankind. Therefore, their content acquires the character of universality. This means that even with different denotations of the same concept by words in different languages, the essence remains the same.

Concepts are mastered in the process of a person’s individual life as he enriches himself with knowledge. The ability to think is always associated with the ability to operate with concepts, to operate with knowledge. Judgment - a form of thinking in which the affirmation or denial of certain connections and relationships between objects, phenomena and events is expressed. Judgments may be general(for example, “all plants have roots”), private, single.

Inference- a form of thinking in which a new judgment is derived from one or more judgments, one way or another completing the thought process. There are two main types of inferences: inductive(induction) and deductive(deduction). Inductive inference is called inference from particular cases, from particular judgments to the general. There is also an inference Similarly. It is usually used to build hypotheses, i.e., assumptions about the possibility of certain events and phenomena. The process of inference, therefore, is the operation of concepts and judgments, leading to one or another conclusion.

Mental operations are called mental actions used in the process of thinking. These are analysis and synthesis, comparison, generalization, abstraction, specification and classification.

Analysis- mental division of the whole into parts, highlighting individual signs and properties.

Synthesis - mental connection of parts, features, properties into a single whole, mental connection of objects, phenomena, events into systems, complexes, etc.

Analysis and synthesis are interconnected. The leading role of one or the other is determined by the tasks of the activity.

Comparison- mental establishment of similarities and differences between objects and phenomena or their signs.

Generalization- mental unification of objects or phenomena based on selection when comparing common and essential properties and characteristics for them.

Abstraction - mental distraction from any properties or signs of objects or phenomena.

Concretization - mental selection from the general of one or another particular specific property and feature.

Classification- mental separation and subsequent unification of objects, phenomena, events into groups and subgroups according to certain characteristics.

Mental operations, as a rule, do not occur in isolation, but in various combinations.

To the number features of thinking include breadth and depth of mind, consistency, flexibility, independence and critical thinking.

Breadth of Mind characterized by versatility of knowledge, the ability to think creatively, the ability to make broad generalizations, and the ability to connect theory with practice.

Depth of mind- this is the ability to isolate a complex issue, delve into its essence, separate the main from the secondary, foresee the paths and consequences of its solution, consider the phenomenon comprehensively, understand it in all connections and relationships.

Sequence of thinking is expressed in the ability to establish a logical order in solving various issues.

Flexibility of thinking- this is the ability to quickly assess a situation, quickly think and make the necessary decisions, and easily switch from one method of action to another.

Independence of thinking is expressed in the ability to pose a new question, find an answer to it, make decisions and act in a non-standard way, without succumbing to suggestive outside influences.

Critical thinking characterized by the ability not to consider the first thought that comes to mind to be correct, to subject the proposals and judgments of others to critical consideration, to make the necessary decisions only after weighing all the pros and cons.

The listed features of thinking are combined differently in different people and expressed to varying degrees. This characterizes the individual characteristics of their thinking.

Thus, thinking is the highest form of human cognitive activity, a socially conditioned mental process of indirect and generalized reflection of reality, the process of searching and discovering something new.

5. Imagination is the process of reproducing and transforming images of objects and phenomena of reality stored in memory, creating on this basis in new combinations and connections new images of new objects, phenomena, actions, conditions of activity.

Imagination is one of those new formations in the human psyche that is associated with satisfying the needs to go beyond the existing present and look into the future. The reality of the imaginary is verified by practice. To create something new in the imagination, you need to know a lot, see, hear, accumulate practical experience in life and store all this in a certain system and in a form processed with the help of thinking in memory. The richer a person’s experience, the more opportunities he has to create unprecedented combinations of experienced impressions.

There is a distinction between reproductive and creative imagination, dreams and daydreams.

Reproducing imagination - the process of recreating the image of an object, event, person, area, etc. from a description, drawing, diagram, geographical map or other iconic images.

The reproducing imagination always functions in every person when it is necessary to draw in one’s imagination something that is inaccessible to direct perception.

It is important that the completeness, accuracy, and brightness of the images of the reproducing imagination depend primarily on the quality, nature and form of the material that evokes these images. But they, like all other mental images, are subjective images of the objective world. Therefore, their completeness, accuracy, and brightness depend on the breadth, depth of knowledge and personal attitudes of a person.

Creative imagination— this is the process of creating new images,” products of creative work, original ideas that enrich the theory and practice of human activity.

Creativity begins with the emergence of a problematic situation, when there is a need to create something new. Creative imagination proceeds as analysis (decomposition) and synthesis (combination) of knowledge accumulated by a person. At the same time, the elements from which the image of the creative imagination is built always appear in new combinations and combinations. In most cases, the result of creative imagination can be materialized, i.e., a new machine, device, new variety of plants, etc. is created. But the images of imagination can remain at the level of ideal content, in the form of a scientific monograph, novel, poems, etc.

Creative imagination is closely connected with thinking, especially with such operations as analysis, synthesis, comparison, generalization.

There are several techniques for creating creative images of imagination: agglutination, analogy, exaggeration-understatement, emphasis, typification.

Agglutination(lat. gluing) - the method of joining (“gluing”) some parts from two or more objects into one whole. Agglutination is widespread in fairy tales in the form of images of a hut on chicken legs, a mermaid - a woman with a fish tail, etc. Agglutination is also used in real images (for example, an amphibious tank, an accordion that combines elements of a piano and button accordion).

Analogy- a technique for constructing an image based on the principle of similarity. For example, a locator was created based on the principle of similarity to the orientation organ of a bat.

Exaggeration-understatement - a technique with the help of which they strive to show the dominant qualities of a person (for example, the kindness of a mighty Giant or the intelligence and soft heart of a Thumb Boy).

Accenting- a technique close to exaggeration, highlighting any one clearly expressed positive or negative feature in the image. It is especially often used in caricatures and caricatures.

Typing- the most difficult technique for creatively creating images of the imagination. Characterizing creativity in literature, M. Gorky said that the character of a hero is made from many individual traits taken from various people of a certain social group. You need to take a closer look at a hundred or two, say, workers in order to approximately correctly describe the portrait of one worker.

All the techniques described can be used in any area of ​​life and activity in connection with the search for something new, with the manifestation of creative imagination.

Dream are called the images of what is desired created in the imagination. They do not contradict reality, therefore, under certain conditions, the dream can be realized. For many centuries, many people have dreamed of flying, but their bodily organization does not have wings. However, the time came when flying machines were created and man flew. Now air transport has become an everyday, fast, convenient means of communication and transportation. A dream, therefore, is a useful mechanism for creative activity.

In dreams It's called fruitless fantasy. In dreams, a person evokes in his consciousness unrealistic images and thoughts that contradict reality.

In any type of human labor there are certain manifestations of the reproductive or creative imagination. The development of imagination in the process of training, education, as well as in the process of other types of activity, serves as the basis for the development of human creative abilities.

Thus, Imagination is the process of creative transformation of ideas that reflect reality, and the creation on this basis of new ideas that were not previously available.

6. Speech there is a process of materialization of thought. In psychology, this term is understood as the process of communication between people through language, as well as the system of sound signals and written signs used by a person to transmit information. Speech is the main acquisition of humanity, the catalyst for all its achievements. It makes accessible not only those objects with which a person is in direct contact, but also those that are absent from his individual life experience. This allows one to operate with objects that a person has never encountered before, but which have been transferred. from other people's experiences. The main purpose of language is to assign a certain meaning to each word, that is, to generalize a number of similar objects or phenomena in one symbol.

It is important to distinguish speech from language. Their main difference is as follows.

Language - This is a system of conventional symbols with the help of which combinations of sounds are transmitted that have a certain meaning and meaning for people. In this sense, this concept is broader than speech, since in addition to words it also includes gestures, facial expressions, symbols, signs, etc. If language is an objective, historically developed system of codes, the subject of a special science - linguistics (linguistics), then speech is a psychological process of formation and transmission of thoughts through the means of language. As a psychological process, speech is the subject of a branch of psychology called psycholinguistics.

The following signs of language are distinguished:

Historically established means of communication;

A system of conventional signs, with the help of which combinations of sounds are transmitted that have a certain meaning and meaning for people;

It develops relatively independently of a person, according to the laws of linguistics;

Reflects the mentality of a particular people, its social attitudes and mythology.

Speech has its own properties.

Understandability speech is achieved by syntactically correct construction of sentences, as well as by using pauses in appropriate places or highlighting words using logical stress (i.e., intonation pattern).

Expressiveness speech is associated with its emotional intensity. In its expressiveness, speech can be bright, energetic or, conversely, sluggish and pale.

Effectiveness speech lies in its influence on the thoughts, feelings and will of other people, on their beliefs and behavior.

Speech performs certain functions.

Function expressions is that, on the one hand, thanks to speech a person can more fully convey his feelings, experiences, relationships, and, on the other hand, the expressiveness of speech and its emotionality significantly expand the possibilities of communication.

Function impact lies in a person’s ability to motivate people to action through speech.

Function designations consists in a person’s ability, through speech, to give objects and phenomena of the surrounding reality names that are unique to them.

Function messages consists of the exchange of thoughts between people through words and phrases.

There are certain types of speech.

Oral Speech is communication between people through pronouncing words out loud, on the one hand, and listening to them by people, on the other.

Monologue speech is the speech of one person expressing his thoughts over a relatively long time.

Dialogical speech is a conversation in which at least two interlocutors participate.

Written speech is speech through written signs.

Internal speech is speech that does not perform the function of communication, but only serves the thinking process of a particular person.

Thus, by speech is the process of a person’s practical use of language for the purpose of communicating with other people. Unlike speech, language is a means of communication between people.

7. Performance- This is the process of mentally recreating images of objects and phenomena that currently do not affect the human senses.

The term "representation" has two meanings. One of them denotes the image of an object or phenomenon that was previously perceived by analyzers, but at the moment does not affect the senses. The second meaning of this term describes the process of reproducing images itself.

Representations as mental phenomena have features of both similarity and differences with such mental phenomena as perception and hallucinations.

The similarity between representation and perception is as follows: when forming images of representation and perception, the emerging image changes significantly compared to the original image under the influence of a number of internal factors (needs, motivation, attitudes, life experience, etc.).

The difference between representation and perception:

Images of ideas, as a rule, are less vivid, less detailed and more fragmented than images of perception.

They reflect the most characteristic features of a given subject, and secondary details are often omitted.

The instability of the image, its tendency to self-destruction.

Greater distortion of the image compared to the image of perception.

Under the influence of language and inner speech, the representation is translated into an abstract concept.

The similarity of ideas with hallucinations: both images arise in the absence of the real objects that they represent.

The difference between representation and hallucinations: awareness of the ideal nature of the image of the representation, the absence of its projection into the outside world, while in hallucinations a person considers the emerging image to be part of the real world.

The physiological basis of ideas is made up of “traces” in the cerebral cortex, remaining after real excitations of the central nervous system during perception. These “traces” are preserved due to the well-known “plasticity” of the central nervous system.

Classification of representations.

According to the division of views by type of leading analyzer The following types of representations are distinguished: visual(image of a person, place, landscape); auditory (playing a musical melody); olfactory(imagination of some characteristic smell - for example, cucumber or perfume); taste(ideas about the taste of food - sweet, bitter, etc.); tactile(idea about the smoothness, roughness, softness, hardness of an object); temperature(idea of ​​cold and heat).

Nevertheless, often several analyzers are involved in the formation of representations. Thus, imagining a cucumber in one’s mind, a person simultaneously imagines its green color, pimpled surface, its hardness, characteristic taste and smell. Representations are formed in the process of human activity, therefore, depending on the profession, predominantly one type of representation develops: for an artist - visual, for a composer - auditory, for an athlete and ballerina - motor, for a chemist - olfactory, etc.

according to the degree of generalization. In this case, we talk about single, general and schematized representations (in contrast to perceptions, which are always single).

Single representations - These are ideas based on the perception of one specific object or phenomenon. They are often accompanied by emotions. These ideas underlie such a memory phenomenon as recognition.

General views - representations that generally reflect a number of similar objects. This type of representation is most often formed with the participation of the second signaling system and verbal concepts.

Schematic representations represent objects or phenomena in the form of conventional figures, graphic images, pictograms, etc. An example would be diagrams or graphs depicting economic or demographic processes.

The third classification of representations is by origin. Within the framework of this typology, they are divided into ideas that arise on the basis of sensations, perception, thinking and imagination. It should be noted that most of a person’s ideas are images that arise on the basis of perception, that is, the primary sensory reflection of reality. From these images, in the process of individual life, the picture of the world of each individual person is gradually formed and adjusted.

The ideas formed based on thinking are characterized by a high degree of abstraction and may have few concrete features. Thus, most people have ideas of concepts such as “justice” or “happiness,” but it is difficult for them to fill these images with specific features.

Ideas can be formed based on imagination. This type of ideas forms the basis of creativity - both artistic and scientific.

Views also vary according to the degree of manifestation of volitional efforts. In this case they are divided into involuntary And arbitrary.

Involuntary ideas are ideas that arise spontaneously, without activation of the will and memory of a person, for example dreams.

Arbitrary ideas are ideas that arise in a person under the influence of will, in the interests of the goal he has set. These ideas are controlled by a person’s consciousness and play a large role in his professional activity.

Reproducing the image of an object

Representation is a reproduced image of an object, based on our past experience. Therefore, the concept of “representation” is closely related to the concept of “perception”:

Perception gives us a direct image of an object in real time and in the presence of the object,

Representation also gives us an image of an object, but not in real time and - as a rule - in the absence of the object.

In the first case, the source of the image of an object lies in the object itself and the work of the sensors. In the second case, the source of the image lies in our memory and the characteristics of the current activity. However, with some stretch, we can say that representation is a perception delayed in time.

Visibility

Like perceptions, ideas, even general ones, are visual. Compared to perception, representations are usually less vivid, although the degree of vividness of a representation varies widely. The item presented is clear:

He appears in his essential properties,

It has the quality of a model, that is, it can be used to model certain relationships and situations.

Fragmentation

Different ideas have different - sometimes greater, sometimes less - fragmentation. When carefully analyzing or trying to establish all the sides or features of an object, the image of which is given in the representation, it usually turns out that some sides, features or parts are not represented at all.

On the one hand, this may seem like a flaw in the presentation. We, for example, can quite clearly imagine a sign on the door of a store with the indicated opening hours, we can imagine its color, design style, even the font of the numbers, but the numbers themselves - the opening hours - are not included in this image. But it may be that this information is very important for us, and the design of the sign will not have any meaning at all, but the content - on the contrary.

On the other hand, this is one of the functions of representation: to simplify the image of an object as much as possible, leaving only its most essential characteristics. Simplification can reach the level of abstraction, and then this image is included in the level of abstract logical thinking.

Yes, the operation of this mechanism can sometimes malfunction (as in the example with the sign), but we must understand that the structure of the representation strongly depends on the characteristics of perception. If we were very impressed by the design of the sign, and at the same time we did not pay much attention to its content, then then the design of the sign may dominate the presentation.

Generality

An amazing and very important feature of the presentation is the generality of the images.

Suppose we read some book five years ago, for example, Anna Karenina. As time passes, we can no longer remember what all the pages of the book looked like, we do not remember the detailed content of the scenes described, we may even forget the order of the scenes. However, the image of the entire work as a whole remains. Images of the most memorable scenes have been preserved. If the book was decorated with illustrations, we can remember some of them. Some insignificant details may come to mind (for example, that there was a funny typo in some place).

Therefore, we can say that representations give us images that were not completely, all at once in our perception, but were compiled and generalized from a chain of images of perception. The complexity of this process (generalization) can also be understood in the fact that the image of the same “Anna Karenina” is more or less complete, but we could read the book itself for a long time (a week, a month, three months), interrupting this activity with other things.

Item modeling

Perception provides images (and very detailed ones) of the current situation. Already in perception is the selection of individual objects from the background, but in perception the objects are still closely connected with the background, that is, with the situation. In the image that perception gives, a chair is standing next to a table, another person is standing behind one person, the person is wearing a blue dress, he is holding a box of pencils, etc.

The image that gives the idea usually contains models. If necessary, one model can be connected to another, if necessary, then only one is considered: next to the chair there is no table or anything at all, the person is also alone, he is wearing something feminine, and in the hands something stationery.

Modeling object properties

You can imagine “green color”, you can imagine “bright green color”, etc. You can imagine “something low”, or you can imagine “something high”. It is interesting that in the latter case, a person usually mentally throws his head up, and in such cases, one can even experimentally notice a short-term tension in the neck muscles.

Mobility

One of the obvious “disadvantages” of ideas is their extreme instability, mobility, and dynamism. Without special training, it is very difficult to keep the same idea in your mind for at least one minute: it will change on its own and will evoke associated images and ideas.

For example, the presentation of the novel "Anna Karenina" will very quickly flow into the presentation of some scene from this novel, the image of the scene may evoke the idea of ​​one of the participants in the scene, this image will evoke the idea of ​​- for example - a "typical man", this image will give rise to the idea of real man from life. And so on.

Such mobility is dictated by the modeling method itself, that is, representation in dynamics.

Modeling of genus-species relationships

You can imagine a specific person (for example, a male colleague). You can imagine a social group and a typical member of this group (for example, all male colleagues). You can move further up the hierarchy: all men, all people, all animals. You can move down the hierarchy: animal - people - bad people - bad people - bosses - my boss.

Simulation of the fantastic

The main “food” for representation is memory. However, there may be such complex manifestations of the work of our memory and representation as:

Memory of memory

Memory of the performance

The concept of memory

The idea of ​​the idea.

Such complex reflection allows the psyche to work not only with ideas about real objects, but also to generate fantastic images and ideas. This process is called imagination. It is difficult to overestimate the importance of imagination for the evolution of humanity. Everything new that appeared in the everyday life of Homo sapiens came from a fictional space: a stone axe, a cloth, a wheel, a computer...

Visual basis of mental activity

Any thinking - visual or abstract-logical - operates with ideas. In the first case, the representations are more detailed and visual (related to the features of three-dimensional space). In the second case, the representations are schematic and highly abstract.

The famous composer Ludwig van Beethoven, as you know, lost his hearing (deafness) in adulthood, but did not stop creating. Representations became for him the only visual basis in his professional activities.

Representation (psychology)

Performance- the process of mentally recreating images of objects and phenomena that currently do not affect the human senses. The term "representation" has two meanings. One of them denotes the image of an object or phenomenon that was previously perceived by analyzers, but at the moment does not affect the senses (“name of the result of the process”, deverbative). The second meaning of this term describes the process of image reproduction itself (“name of the process”, substantivized infinitive).

Description

Representations as mental phenomena have both similarities and differences with such mental phenomena as perception, pseudohallucinations and hallucinations.

The physiological basis of ideas is made up of “traces” in the cerebral cortex, remaining after real excitations of the central nervous system during perception. These “traces” are preserved due to the well-known “plasticity” of the central nervous system.

Classification

There are different ways to classify representations.

By leading analyzers (by modalities)

In accordance with the division of representations into representative systems (according to the modality of the leading analyzer), the following types of representations are distinguished:

• visual(image of a person, place, landscape);
• auditory(playing a musical melody);
• olfactory(imagination of some characteristic smell - for example, cucumber or perfume);
• taste(ideas about the taste of food - sweet, bitter, etc.)
• tactile(idea about the smoothness, roughness, softness, hardness of an object);
• temperature(idea of ​​cold and heat).

However, often several analyzers are involved in the formation of representations. Thus, imagining a cucumber in one’s mind, a person simultaneously imagines its green color and pimply surface, its hardness, characteristic taste and smell. Ideas are formed in the process of human activity, therefore, depending on the profession, predominantly one type of ideas develops: for an artist - visual, for a composer - auditory, for an athlete and ballerina - motor, for a chemist - olfactory, etc.

By degree of generality

Concepts also differ in the degree of generalization. In this case, we talk about single, general and schematized representations (in contrast to perceptions, which are always single).

• Single representations- these are ideas based on the perception of one specific object or phenomenon. They are often accompanied by emotions. These ideas underlie such a memory phenomenon as recognition.
• General views- representations that generally reflect a number of similar objects. This type of representation is most often formed with the participation of the second signaling system and verbal concepts.
• Schematic representations represent objects or phenomena in the form of conventional figures, graphic images, pictograms, etc. An example is diagrams or graphs depicting economic or demographic processes.

By origin

The third classification of ideas is by origin. Within this typology, they are divided into ideas that arise on the basis of sensations, perception, thinking and imagination.

• Based on perception. Most of a person’s ideas are images that arise on the basis of perception - that is, the primary sensory reflection of reality. From these images, in the process of individual life, the picture of the world of each individual person is gradually formed and adjusted.
• Based on thinking. Ideas formed on the basis of thinking are highly abstract and may have few concrete features. Thus, most people have ideas of such concepts as “justice” or “happiness”, but it is difficult for them to fill these images with specific features.*
• Based on imagination. Ideas can be formed on the basis of imagination, and this type of ideas forms the basis of creativity - both artistic and scientific.

According to the degree of volitional effort

Ideas also differ in the degree of manifestation of volitional efforts. In this case, they are divided into involuntary and voluntary.

• Involuntary representations- these are ideas that arise spontaneously, without activating the will and memory of a person, for example - dreams.
• Arbitrary representations- these are ideas that arise in a person under the influence of will, in the interests of the goal he has set. These ideas are controlled by a person’s consciousness and play a large role in his professional activity.

Properties

Representations have such basic properties as visibility, fragmentation, instability And generality.

• Visibility. A person represents the image of a perceived object exclusively in visual form. In this case, there is a blurring of the outlines and the disappearance of a number of features. The clarity of ideas is poorer than the clarity of perception due to the loss of the immediacy of reflection.
• Fragmentation. The presentation of objects and phenomena is characterized by uneven reproduction of their individual parts. Advantage is given to objects (or their fragments) that in previous perceptual experience had greater attractiveness or significance. The fragmentation of representations, noted by G. Ebbinghaus and confirmed by modern researchers, is that “with a careful analysis or attempt to establish all the sides or features of an object, the image of which is given in the representation, it usually turns out that some sides, features or parts are not represented at all " If instability of representation is an analogue of incomplete constancy, then fragmentation is the equivalent of incomplete integrity or an expression of its deficiency in representation compared to perception.
• Instability. The image (or its fragment) presented at a given moment in time can be held in active consciousness only for a certain time, after which it will begin to disappear, losing fragment after fragment. On the other hand, the image of representation does not arise immediately, but as new aspects and properties of the object, new temporary connections are perceived; gradually it is supplemented, changed and “clarified”. In its essence, instability as a manifestation of impermanence is a negative equivalent or expression of the deficiency of constancy inherent in the perceptual image. It is well known to everyone from their own experience and consists in the “fluctuations” of the image and the fluidity of its components.
• Generality. The presented object, its image, has a certain information capacity, and the content (structure) of the image of representations is schematized or collapsed. As B.C. points out. Cousin, representation always includes an element of generalization. In it, the material of an individual perception is necessarily associated with the material of previous experience and previous perceptions. The new merges with the old. Ideas are the result of all past perceptions of a particular object or phenomenon. The birch as an image of representation is the result of all past perceptions of birches, both directly and in images. Therefore, a representation, while generalizing a specific object (or phenomenon), can simultaneously serve as a generalization of an entire class of similar objects due to the fact that the represented object does not directly affect the senses.

Literature

• Shcherbatykh Yu. V. General psychology. - St. Petersburg: “Peter”, 2008.

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• Psychology of body types. Psychology of human capabilities. Theory of conscious harmony (number of volumes: 3), Uspensky Petr Demyanovich. The following books are included in the package. "Psychology of body types. Development of new capabilities. Practical approach". Did you know that hormones directly affect a person’s appearance and character? A…

Mental activity is a complex form of purposeful human activity, unfolding as a successive change of its stages or phases. This activity occurs when there is a problem situation, which represents a discrepancy between the known and the unknown. It occurs when a person encounters something that goes beyond his knowledge and experience. First stage mental activity is a person’s awareness of a problem situation, as a result of which a task is formulated. A task is a goal given under certain conditions. The statement of the problem is followed by hypothesis stage(suggested ways to solve it). Third stage is the process of solving a problem related to testing hypotheses. At the final stage, the solution to the problem is checked. The effectiveness of mental activity depends on many factors. The decisive role is played by the motivational factor. Mental activity, like any other, is always multimotivated, but its effectiveness is determined by the dominance of cognitive motives. Being meaning-forming, they give additional motivation to mental activity and make it productive and creative.

In the process of thinking, the relationship between thinking and speech clearly appears. Thinking is a multidimensional process, carried out at both conscious and unconscious levels of the psyche. A specifically human characteristic of thinking is its connection with speech and language. Language is one of the most important means of thinking. Thanks to language, human thinking becomes abstract and abstract, because human language not only names objects and phenomena, but also designates them, performing the function of generalization.

In addition to the linguistic form, thinking can be extralinguistic, those. operate with complete figures and images. The originality of human thinking arises on the basis of the interaction of the above-mentioned forms: linguistic and extralinguistic. In the process of thinking, a person discovers new things, if not for humanity, then for himself.

There are many classifications of thinking. Traditionally, there are three main types of thinking: visually effective associated with the manipulation of objects (an effective form of thinking); visual-figurative, which involves the use of representation (figurative form of thinking); verbal-logical associated with the operation of abstractions (abstract form of thinking).

They contrast logical and intuitive types of thinking. Logical thinking characterized by awareness, arbitrariness, consistency, consistency. Main characteristics intuitive thinking are weak awareness, convolution, rapidity of progress and the absence of clearly defined stages.

In the process of its development, human thinking goes through two main stages: pre-conceptual and conceptual thinking. Pre-conceptual thinking– this is concrete, insensitive to contradictions, characterized by the lack of formation of basic logical operations. Conceptual thinking characterized by completeness of understanding, inductive-deductive nature and the formation of logical operations (analysis, synthesis, generalization and others).

Under creative thinking refers to the process leading to the creation of an original product. To characterize it, not only the effective side is important, but also the procedural side. The process of creative thinking is accompanied by mental new formations: motives, goals, meanings. Creative thinking is contrasted with non-creative thinking, which consists of using ready-made knowledge, skills, and algorithms. Creative thinking is distinguished by originality, ease (the ability to simultaneously develop many ideas and hypotheses), accuracy (vision of the most important and essential for achieving set goals), flexibility (the ability to move from one plan of analysis to another).

The thinking of each person is a unique combination of his specific properties, characteristics determined by personality, and the requirements of activity. This is reflected in the style of thinking. Under thinking style a system of individual techniques, skills, strategies, and features of mental activity is understood. There are five main thinking styles:

· Synthetic. Characterized by the ability to combine theories, ideas, the desire to experiment, and a penchant for paradoxes and contradictions.

· Analytical. The main characteristics are a predisposition to systematic analysis, attention to detail, scrupulousness, and consistent testing of hypotheses.

· Idealistic. It assumes an interest in the whole, the formation of strategic goals, receptivity to other people's ideas, and the ability to use them.

· Pragmatic. This is thinking focused on obtaining the fastest results, the formation of tactical goals, and sensitivity to the situation.

· Realistic. The style of thinking is manifested in simplifying the problem, appealing to the knowledge and experience of other people, and maximizing the use of information about the subject of interest.

The style of thinking is formed from early childhood and is often not realized. In its pure form, a thinking style is quite rare. Its main function is to ensure the effectiveness of activities and interaction with people.

Speech is understood as the mental process of transmitting information through language. In psychology and linguistics, a distinction is made between speech and language. F. de Saussure considered speech a psychological phenomenon related to the situation of communication, and classified language as a social phenomenon that can be studied by linguistics.

Language acts as an objective, historically established system of codes that a person uses in the process of life. Speech, being the most important means of thinking and communication, implements the following functions: communicative, indicative, significative (designation, naming of an object), mental, etc.

There are many classifications of speech. Depending on the degree of complexity, there are echolalic(containing repetition), nominative And communicative. These types of speech successively replace each other in the process of its development in humans.

There is a distinction between internal and external speech. Inner speech or speech “to oneself” performs the complex function of preparing an external speech utterance. It is a mechanism for transforming subjective meanings into a system of external meanings. Inner speech is characterized by convolution, abbreviation, and idiomaticity.

External speech can be written and oral, each has its own specifics. Oral speech is divided into monologue and dialogic. Monologue speech is characterized by consistency, logic, thematic content, relative semantic completeness, and syntactic complexity. The essential features of the dialogue are spontaneity (unplanned), frequent change of topics, curtailment, because much is understood by gestures, facial expressions, context, situation.

Speech is a phenomenon of individual human consciousness. With its help, a person can express his inner world in order to be understood by other people. The content of speech reflects the current orientation of consciousness. It is speech that translates mental phenomena into a product, i.e. into a thought expressed through the means of a particular language.

In Russian psychology, it is customary to consider speech as speech activity, the structure of which includes the phases of orientation, planning, implementation and control.

Speech serves the process of communication between people - communication. In this regard, a communicative approach was formed in speech studies, in line with which the text began to be considered not in isolation, but within the framework of the interaction in which it arose, i.e. as a product and component of the communication process. The text as a product of the joint activities of interlocutors is called discourse. Discourse depends on the situation, the goals of the interlocutors, and the specifics of their perception of each other.

Intelligence

The concept of intelligence covers an integral functional set of cognitive processes, including all levels from sensory-perceptual to speech-mental. The pinnacle of this system is speech thinking, which integrates the work of a person’s holistic intellect. Integration is carried out both “from above” and “from below”. Thanks to integration “from above,” the activity of the underlying levels of cognition is transformed: human perception becomes meaningful, memory is rationally organized, and attention is controlled. Integration “from above” is prepared by a peculiar process of integration “from below”. This integration consists in the constant complication of cognitive processes. They develop in the direction from involuntary to voluntary, move from the external to the internal plan of action and become more compressed and generalized. Intelligence should be considered in two aspects: procedural and effective. On the one hand, it acts as a system of cognitive processes, on the other – as a general human ability. For the formation of intelligence as a general ability, it is necessary that the processes of cognition be generalized, generalized and become available for transfer from one type of activity to another.

Highlight linguistic intelligence– the ability to use language to create or convey information (writer, journalist, editor); musical intelligence– ability to compose or perform music (composer, musical performer); logical-mathematical intelligence– the ability to imagine, perceive an object and manipulate it in the mind (architect, engineer); bodily-kinesthetic intelligence – the ability to form and use motor skills in sports, performing arts, and manual labor (dancer, athlete, mechanic); personal intelligence has two sides - intrapersonal intelligence (the ability to manage one’s feelings, analyze them, use this information in one’s activities (for example, a writer) and interpersonal intelligence - the ability to notice and understand the needs of other people, manage their moods, anticipate behavior in different situations (political leader , teacher, psychotherapist).

The question of the possibility of measuring intelligence is controversial in psychology. In foreign psychology, many studies have been carried out on the structure of intelligence based on a variety of test methods. Known IQ IQ is an indicator of mental talent.

G. Eysenck proposed to distinguish three types of intelligence. One called by him "biological" is based on the structures and functions of the brain; Without them, no cognitive behavior is possible, and they are also responsible for individual differences. Another intelligence - "psychometric" which includes cognitive abilities measured by conventional tests, e.g. characterized by IQ. Such intelligence is largely influenced by cultural factors, family upbringing, education, and economic status. At the same time, it depends on biological intelligence. Third - "social" intelligence is associated with complex mental functions such as critical information processing, strategy development, etc. Differences in it depend on socio-historical factors, but are still largely determined by IQ. It is clear that social intelligence is much broader than biological intelligence and includes IQ.

Creation- a process of activity that creates qualitatively new material and spiritual values ​​or the result of creating an objectively new one. The main criterion that distinguishes creativity from manufacturing (production) is the uniqueness of its result. The result of creativity cannot be directly derived from the initial conditions. No one, except perhaps the author, can get exactly the same result if the same initial situation is created for him. Thus, in the process of creativity, the author puts into the material certain possibilities that are not reducible to labor operations or logical conclusion, and expresses in the final result some aspects of his personality. It is this fact that gives creative products additional value in comparison with manufactured products.

Creativity is: activity that generates something qualitatively new, never existing before;

Creating something new, valuable not only for this person, but also for others;

The process of creating subjective values.

The branch of knowledge that studies creativity is heuristics. Main types and functions of creativity:

production and technical;

inventive;

political;

organizational;

philosophical;

artistic;

mythological;

religious;

everyday life, etc.

in other words, types of creativity correspond to types of practical and spiritual activity.

Vitaly Tepikin, a researcher of the human creative factor and the phenomenon of the intelligentsia, identifies artistic, scientific, technical, sports-tactical, as well as military-tactical creativity as independent types. S. L. Rubinstein was the first to correctly point out the characteristic features of inventive creativity: “The specificity of an invention, which distinguishes it from other forms of creative intellectual activity, is that it must create a thing, a real object, a mechanism or a technique that solves a certain problem. This determines the uniqueness of the creative work of the inventor: the inventor must introduce something new into the context of reality, into the actual course of some activity. This is something essentially different from solving a theoretical problem in which a limited number of abstractly identified conditions need to be taken into account. Moreover, reality is historically mediated by human activity and technology: it embodies the historical development of scientific thought. Therefore, in the process of invention, one must proceed from the context of reality into which something new is to be introduced, and take into account the corresponding scientific context. This determines the general direction and specific nature of the various links in the process of invention.”

Performance- the process of mentally recreating images of objects and phenomena that currently do not affect the human senses. The term "representation" has two meanings. One of them denotes the image of an object or phenomenon that was previously perceived by analyzers, but at the moment does not affect the senses (“name of the result of the process”, deverbative). The second meaning of this term describes the process of image reproduction itself (“name of the process”, substantivized infinitive).

Representations as mental phenomena have both similarities and differences with such mental phenomena as perception, pseudohallucinations and hallucinations.

The physiological basis of ideas is made up of “traces” in the cerebral cortex, remaining after real excitations of the central nervous system during perception. These “traces” are preserved due to the well-known “plasticity” of the central nervous system.

There are different ways to classify representations.

By leading analyzers (by modality)

In accordance with the division of representations into representative systems (according to the modality of the leading analyzer), the following types of representations are distinguished:

Visual (image of a person, place, landscape);

Auditory (reproduction of a musical melody);

Olfactory (ideation of some characteristic smell - for example, cucumber or perfume);

Gustatory (ideas about the taste of food - sweet, bitter, etc.)

Tactile (idea of ​​the smoothness, roughness, softness, hardness of an object);

Temperature (idea of ​​cold and heat).

However, often several analyzers are involved in the formation of representations. Ideas are formed in the process of human activity, therefore, depending on the profession, predominantly one type of ideas develops: for an artist - visual, for a composer - auditory, for an athlete and ballerina - motor, for a chemist - olfactory, etc.

By degree of generality

Concepts also differ in the degree of generalization. In this case, we talk about single, general and schematized representations (in contrast to perceptions, which are always single).

Single representations- these are ideas based on the perception of one specific object or phenomenon. They are often accompanied by emotions. These ideas underlie such a memory phenomenon as recognition.

General views- representations that generally reflect a number of similar objects. This type of representation is most often formed with the participation of the second signaling system and verbal concepts.

Schematic representations describe objects or phenomena in the form of conventional figures, graphic images, pictograms, etc. An example is diagrams or graphs depicting economic or demographic processes.

By origin

The third classification of ideas is by origin. Within this typology, they are divided into ideas that arise on the basis of sensations, perception, thinking and imagination.

Based on perception. Most of a person’s ideas are images that arise on the basis of perception - that is, the primary sensory reflection of reality. From these images, in the process of individual life, the picture of the world of each individual person is gradually formed and adjusted.

Based on thinking. Ideas formed on the basis of thinking are highly abstract and may have few concrete features. Thus, most people have ideas of such concepts as “justice” or “happiness”, but it is difficult for them to fill these images with specific features.*

Based on imagination. Ideas can also be formed on the basis of imagination, and this type of ideas forms the basis of creativity - both artistic and scientific.

According to the degree of volitional effort

Ideas also differ in the degree of manifestation of volitional efforts. In this case, they are divided into involuntary and voluntary.

Involuntary ideas are ideas that arise spontaneously, without activating the will and memory of a person, for example, dreams.

Arbitrary ideas are ideas that arise in a person under the influence of will, in the interests of the goal he has set. These ideas are controlled by a person’s consciousness and play a large role in his professional activity.

View Properties

Representations have such basic properties as clarity, fragmentation, instability and generality.

Visibility. A person represents the image of a perceived object exclusively in visual form. In this case, there is a blurring of the outlines and the disappearance of a number of features. The clarity of ideas is poorer than the clarity of perception due to the loss of the immediacy of reflection.

Fragmentation. The presentation of objects and phenomena is characterized by uneven reproduction of their individual parts. If instability of representation is an analogue of incomplete constancy, then fragmentation is the equivalent of incomplete integrity or an expression of its deficiency in representation compared to perception.

Instability. The image (or its fragment) presented at a given moment in time can be held in active consciousness only for a certain time, after which it will begin to disappear, losing fragment after fragment. On the other hand, the image of representation does not arise immediately, but as new aspects and properties of the object, new temporary connections are perceived; gradually it is supplemented, changed and “clarified”. In its essence, instability as a manifestation of impermanence is a negative equivalent or expression of the deficiency of constancy inherent in the perceptual image. It is well known to everyone from their own experience and consists in the “fluctuations” of the image and the fluidity of its components.

Generality. The presented object, its image, has a certain information capacity, and the content (structure) of the image of representations is schematized or collapsed. As B.C. points out. Cousin, representation always includes an element of generalization. In it, the material of an individual perception is necessarily associated with the material of previous experience and previous perceptions. The new merges with the old. Views are the result all past perceptions of a particular object or phenomenon. The birch as an image of representation is the result of all past perceptions of birches, both directly and in images. Therefore, a representation, while generalizing a specific object (or phenomenon), can simultaneously serve as a generalization of an entire class of similar objects due to the fact that the represented object does not directly affect the senses.

Imagination – This is a mental process consisting of creating concepts or ideas of new images based on existing ones. It is a kind of transformation of reality and can lead to both its distortion and deeper knowledge. There are active and passive imagination. The first manifests itself in the involuntary transformation of images, the second consists in the transformation of images in accordance with the goals set by the subject. Imagination is associated with creative thinking.

Images of the imagination– these are images of virtual reality. They differ in their functions and psychological status. It can be dreams(images of the desired future), dreams, which are characterized by groundlessness of plans and hopes, isolation from reality, they can weaken the energy of the individual’s impulses, making him a passive dreamer. Fantasy is synonymous with imagination. Fantasy also called products of the imagination.

The value of imagination is that it allows you to make a decision, find a way out of a problem situation, even in the absence of the necessary information that is necessary for thinking. It allows you to “jump” over some stages of thinking and still imagine the final result.

There are involuntary (passive) and voluntary (active), types of imagination. Involuntary imagination- this is the creation of new images without any external stimuli. It consists in the emergence of new ideas without a specific intention on the part of the person, at a low level of awareness (in a dream, a drowsy state). Free imagination is the active creation of new images through volitional efforts. It can be recreative (reproductive) and creative (productive). The psychological characteristics of each of these types were described in detail by the domestic psychologist A.F. Lazursky. The scientist attached great importance to the reproductive imagination, because it allows a person to think not in dry schemes, but in concrete images. Creative imagination involves the creation of a new, original image or idea. The results of creative imagination can be realized in original and valuable products of activity.

There are certain techniques of imagination: agglutination, hyperbolization and others. Agglutination consists in combining incompatible elements of objects (centaur, mermaid). Hyperbolization- this is an exaggeration or understatement of the properties of an object, a change in the ratio of its parts. Typing– highlighting the essential repetition. Accenting– strengthening, emphasizing individual features, sides of an object (caricature).

CONCLUSION: A person not only perceives, but also remembers information. One of the advantages of man over other animal beings is that he has a memory, whose capabilities sometimes surpass even the most advanced machines. In the process of practical memorization and reproduction of information, different types of memory work together, complementing each other. The peculiarity of mental processes is that they are the most short-term, fast-flowing. They are an actual response to what is happening. In modern psychology, it is generally accepted that mental processes are closely interconnected and, strictly speaking, merge into one holistic process, a property called “psyche”. The division of consciousness into mental processes is arbitrary; it has no theoretical justification. Currently, integrative approaches to the psyche are being developed in science, and the classification of mental processes has rather a pedagogical and propaedeutic value, descending as science develops.